


of magic and sin

by stubborn_jerk



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Character Study, Gen, M/M, Philosophy, Rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 20:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20663666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stubborn_jerk/pseuds/stubborn_jerk
Summary: The philosophy of magic isn’t to answer questions but to solve problems.





	of magic and sin

The philosophy of magic isn’t to answer questions but to solve problems.

This is the point of Heaven. Contrary to popular belief, no bureaucracy exists in Heaven. It just becomes the lens humans see the order through, what they think order looks like, all the corporate-looking things: the suits, the windows overlooking Earth, the hierarchy of the Hosts etc. Because Heaven's philosophy really is not to question. It’s to just _be_, to just _do_.

So Aziraphale doesn’t really _have_ paperwork, because paperwork is Hellish and humane. That’s not to say it’s beneath them, but angels aren’t terribly fond of human things, and human concepts are just so primitive. Heaven has order because they believe order to be what Heaven should be about and therefore, they have it. 

It’s not terribly efficient, of course, because one lie could cripple the system. But since a whole Host of angels believe in order, no one, not even the fledgling angels, think to disobey or lie.

_Except—_

Earth is a grey area. There are limits to Heaven (and Hell and magic) down there. One needs a funnel to carry magic into that plane of existence without killing humans with incomprehensible power (a corporation, in this case, would suffice). Aziraphale, one of the first four angels assigned on Earth, adapted.

This, of course, is bad in Heaven’s eyes.

For example:

The first sin was committed by an angel. Lucifer did not lie. They bore in their heart—or the celestial equivalent of it—the fruit of contempt for humans despite being a being of Love. They gave out seeds of doubt like free samples in a market. The first meteor shower, as it was seen on Earth, looked beautiful but smelled of brimstone that did not waft into the gates of Eden.

The second sin was committed by a human. Eve did lie, but only later on. She was tempted with the taste of forbidden Fruit and gave out the Knowledge it served her as a death sentence to her and Adam, not out of contempt, but out of concern for him. A doubt expressed once lead to mortality and suffering, a hand guiding the sword of skin-of-the-teeth-survival with a tight grip of desperation.

The third sin was committed by a part time bookshop owner and angel. Aziraphale lied, over and over and over until the words of it became him. ‘_Where is the flaming sword I had given you_,’ asked God, but the question came more as a dare, a temptation. And Aziraphale, held with the conviction that he'd done the right thing and, bearing contempt in his heart at the cruelty subjected on humanity for the sin of Knowledge, bit into the fruit of this temptation with the gusto of Heaven's only food enthusiast, licking every last drop with the self-satisfaction of the right.

Magic exists in Heaven to solve problems, favours, to keep questions at bay, to clear away lines of hierarchy and power. Archangels are not more, seraphim are not more, principalities are not more. Hierarchy is Hellish and humane. Heaven is neither and nothing. 

Aziraphale, who has seen power reveal wrong, knows that this is bullshit.

And so, the principality Aziraphale, Guardian of the Eastern Gate, stayed on Earth for millennia after Eden. The reports are prayers, the deeds of the day whispered through gritted teeth. He falls, not from grace, but hard and fast for the messiness of the humanity he sacrificed for. He courts a demon who loves just as, if not more fiercely and steadfastly than he.

He stops the apocalypse because he believes it should be stopped and goes humbly back to his bookshop, magic singing ineffability into the order Crowley demands from it.

**Author's Note:**

> i had this thought after rewatching [olly thorn's witchcraft, gender, and marxism video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmk47kh7fiE). he makes a lot of good points in there and i love all of them, but the thing about magic really struck me after that so i had to make something out of it. i punched this all out on the commute to school and ended up wanting to put it up. i highly recommend you watch it as well!
> 
> it's [here](https://stubbornjerk.tumblr.com/post/187182795670) on my blog as well, with a few tweaks, being the first edition and all.


End file.
